JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
The appellant was jointly charged with Kennedy Odhiambo Odede alias Major in the Senior Resident Magistrate’s Court at Oyugis with six counts of the offence of robbery with violence contrary to section 296(2) of the Penal Code. The appellant and the co-accused were convicted after trial on the six counts and each sentenced to death in each of the six counts. They both appealed to the High Court against conviction and sentence. The appeal of the appellant was dismissed. However the appeal of the co-accused was allowed and he was acquitted.
In the first trial presided over by S. Omwenga, a Senior Resident Magistrate, the appellant had been charged alone with six counts of robbery with violence. The prosecutor called nine witnesses who testified against the appellant. After the close of the prosecution case the trial Magistrate ruled that the appellant had a case to answer.
The appellant being dissatisfied with the ruling made an application for transfer of the case to…